The Great Ming in the Box-Chapter 103: Online Road Construction
In the following days, the villagers of Zhengjia Village began to busy themselves. They gathered at the entrance of Gaojia Fortress early in the morning, at sunrise, waiting for the sun to rise. Then they would board Solar Vehicle No. 2 and head to Zhengjia Village.
Of course, this was only what Li Daoxuan had observed.
Li Daoxuan could not read their inner thoughts: “Every morning, Miao Ri Star Official woke the sun. We rode the magical car borrowed by the Deity from Miao Ri Star Official, returning home to farm. Ah, each day unfolded so spectacularly. Even the emperor wouldn’t have such a magical car to travel in on the way to farm.”
In reality, the newly appointed Emperor Chongzhen was a young man, not old at all, but that was beyond their concern.
After observing for a day, Li Daoxuan noticed one issue: only a quarter of Zhengjia Village’s farmland was being utilized.
Originally, Zhengjia Village had a far larger population than Gaojia Village, with twice the amount of farmland.
When Zheng Yanfu followed Wang Er to revolt, he swept away most of Zhengjia Village’s population. These people either perished in battles or were now labor offenders at Gaojia Village.
The farmland belonging to those “lost” villagers lay entirely abandoned, with no one to sow seeds. The remaining twenty or so villagers obediently refrained from occupying others’ fields, tending only their own. Hence, farmland utilization became severely inefficient.
Such waste was unacceptable.
Li Daoxuan summoned Gao Yiye and Thirty-Two, instructing them to resolve the idle farmland problem.
Thirty-Two, experienced in such matters as a magistrate’s aide, tackled it skillfully. He first inventoried Zhengjia Village’s remaining residents and their land deeds. Then he checked the labor offenders to identify who hailed from Zhengjia Village and which land deeds they possessed.
This revealed the deceased, whose land became “unclaimed territory.” Normally, such plots would be discovered through the imperial court’s periodic “land surveys” before being resold or reallocated.
But with Gaojia Village now powerful, they wouldn’t wait for the court. Thirty-Two sent Clerk Tan Liwen to survey Zhengjia Village’s land. He lent this “unclaimed territory rent-free” to the twenty or so remaining residents—labor offenders excluded.
Thus, the Zhengjia villagers doubled their farmland for free, causing wild excitement. They worked with frenzied energy, as if electrified.
The labor offenders watched with envy. Those resigned to lifelong exile vowed secretly: “I must behave well, end my sentence early, regain freedom. Next time rent-free land is distributed, my chance will come.”
Meanwhile, Li Daoxuan pondered another problem: Solar Vehicle No. 2 bounced violently on the official highway, hampering efficiency. If his Tiny Kingdom expanded to uncover more villages, these decrepit roads would hinder development severely.
Apparently, an old saying merited implementation: “To prosper, build roads.”
Li Daoxuan went downstairs, crossed two streets, and approached a small construction site. Workers were digging up a sidewalk to rebuild it. He had no clue why this path was perpetually under renovation—patched, torn apart, repatched, and torn apart again for years.
Boldly, he handed a drink to an elderly worker and smiled, “Uncle, my home wall needs cement repair. Buying a whole sack at the market is excessive. Could I take just a tiny bit from your site? Barely a pinch.”
The worker chuckled, “Sure, take it quickly—before the foreman notices.”
Li Daoxuan thanked him. Using two small plastic bags, he scooped a minute bundle of cement and another of sand, then scurried off, pleased with his petty heist.
Upon returning, he intended to place the cement inside his box for the tinies to manage—but reconsidered. Road construction was a massive undertaking. Gaojia Village’s population was too small. Building just three miles of road would take ages.
Forget it. He’d build the first road himself—an experiment he’d long found intriguing.
Retrieving an unused plastic box, he looked up cement formula online. He mixed cement, sand, and water at proportion, stirring vigorously. Soon, a small box of concrete was ready.
He reached into the box and tapped the “East” and “North” buttons, shifting the view to an area distant from the village. Using a small metal scraper, he shaved the ground twice, sweeping dead trees, weeds, and stones aside. Parallel to the official highway, he scraped space for a fresh path.
Online “rural cement road guides” were overwhelmingly complex. Ignoring most steps, he sprayed water to dampen the soil, then formed “expansion joints.” He dumped concrete and smoothed it flat with plastic film.
Li Daoxuan personally constructed a road measuring approximately three miles long and fifteen meters wide inside the box. In reality, this translated to a thin cement strip only fifteen meters long and 7.5 centimeters wide—an effortless endeavor achieved in minutes.
Had the tinies handled this labor, the duration would’ve been unknowable.
Acting as the nanny Deity while troweling cement proved surprisingly fun.
“Ah! Look—the Deity is working divine magic again!”
As Li Daoxuan labored, villagers gathered to marvel. From afar, they watched a colossal “metal plate” scrape the earth with a thunderous “crunch,” splitting rocks with godlike might, forcibly carving a parallel road alongside the official highway.
Then gray slurry poured from the sky, flooding the path for miles. The bizarre “metal plate” scraped repeatedly over this thick, odd sludge, polishing it smooth as water.
Dumbstruck, the villagers mumbled, “This… this divine act befuddles us. What is this meant to achieve?”
Debating endlessly, they only hushed upon Gao Yiye’s approach. “The Deity has bestowed a road linking Gaojia Village and Zhengjia Village. For seven days, no one may approach it—only after that may it be used. Understood? Should anyone defy the Deity’s decree…”
She pouted her petite lip and snorted—barely menacing, rather cute. But the unspoken punishment behind her pause amplified dread, twisting her loveliness into menace.
The villagers protested hurriedly, “Dare not! Who would dare disobey the Deity?”
Gao Yiye pointed at the labor offenders. “Send a group of you. Smooth the road with planks. Then patrol along both sides. For seven days—not humans! Not even mice or rabbits step on it. Catch and beat any trespassers to death.”
The villagers sweated, “Saint Lady, after years of drought, mice and rabbits are practically extinct! Rest assured.”
Chapter 103: Online Road Construction
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